A vigorous perusal of the MythBusters web site turned up no evaluations of sobriety tests used by law enforcement officials.

That's some in-depth investigative work there, Lou. If you'd bothered to look at an episode guide somewhere, you'd have seen the episode where they tested all sorts of myths involving breathalyzers.

It wouldn't have helped this guy though. They basically busted a bunch of myths that purported to tell of ways to cheat a breathalyzer, but they were all busted. The only one that threw it off was swigging mouthwash right before taking it, and all that did was give you a crazy-high reading.

I'm not saying it's a good idea for us mere mortals (definitely including this guy), BUT...

...notice how whenever your local DA, lieutenant governor, state party chairman, celebrity riding in the car with her equally drunk lawyer, etc. finds themselves in a situation where they can't talk the cop out of doing his job, they never take the breathalyzer test? No, sir! Not without a warrant, sir! I know my fourth and fifth amendment rights, officer! Why yes, I would be happy to fork over my license for a year!

That's because they're smart, or at least tactically-minded. If you can afford a chauffeur for a year, the administrative penalty of losing your license for a year beats the crap out of a losing it for six months and getting a DUI conviction.

Of course, you have to be drunk enough to know you're over the limit, but not so drunk that delaying for a few hours while they find someone to take your blood won't bring you down below the limit. And you have to bring your A-game to stall that for as long as possible. Throw a tantrum. Demand to call all eleven of your lawyers. Stop and tie your shoelaces. Tell the cop who's driving you to the hospital that you think you just saw a murder happening. Offer fellatio. (Come on, you're drunk anyway. Live a little.) It'll all be worth it when your BAC comes back at 0.799, three hours after you were taken into custody.

/semiotix does not condone people drinking and driving//frankly, the more time I spend on Fark, the less I condone people driving, period.

eas81:FTA: "A vigorous perusal of the MythBusters web site turned up no evaluations of sobriety tests used by law enforcement officials."

Dear TCPALM,

GIS is your friend Link

From that link:Episode 110: Alcohol Myths

26 Comments

Air Date: October 22, 2008Alcohol can make people look more attractive.

plausible

To maximize objectivity, the Mythbusters decided to look at a number of sample photos and rate them while sober and again while drunk. Adam started first by rating 30 women and awarded 96 points out of a total of 300. Kari rated photos of 30 men and awarded a total of 154 points. Finally, Jamie awarded 116 points. After a few beers, Adam awarded 121 points, Kari 89, and Jamie 105. After several more beers, Adam awarded 134 points, Kari had 153, and Jamie had 111. Even though they each had different results, the Mythbusters decided the myth was plausible since their overall scores increased when they were drunk.Drinking black coffee will help a drunk person sober up.

busted

Adam and Jamie, the subjects, showed no improvement on a hand-eye coordination test.Exercising vigorously will help a drunk person sober up.

plausible

After running for five minutes on a treadmill, Adam's test had a remarkable improvement over the control test.Dunking his head in ice water will help a drunk person sober up.

busted

Adam and Jamie, the subjects, showed no improvement on a hand-eye coordination test.Getting slapped in the face will help a drunk person sober up.

plausible

The results showed a noticeable improvement after the subject was slapped.

They did test methods of beating a breathalyzer in episode 6 but I don't see how the suspect thought he could use this show in his favor since they did not prove it was unreliable (except after using mouthwash) .

semiotix:I'm not saying it's a good idea for us mere mortals (definitely including this guy), BUT...

...notice how whenever your local DA, lieutenant governor, state party chairman, celebrity riding in the car with her equally drunk lawyer, etc. finds themselves in a situation where they can't talk the cop out of doing his job, they never take the breathalyzer test? No, sir! Not without a warrant, sir! I know my fourth and fifth amendment rights, officer! Why yes, I would be happy to fork over my license for a year!

That's because they're smart, or at least tactically-minded. If you can afford a chauffeur for a year, the administrative penalty of losing your license for a year beats the crap out of a losing it for six months and getting a DUI conviction.

Of course, you have to be drunk enough to know you're over the limit, but not so drunk that delaying for a few hours while they find someone to take your blood won't bring you down below the limit. And you have to bring your A-game to stall that for as long as possible. Throw a tantrum. Demand to call all eleven of your lawyers. Stop and tie your shoelaces. Tell the cop who's driving you to the hospital that you think you just saw a murder happening. Offer fellatio. (Come on, you're drunk anyway. Live a little.) It'll all be worth it when your BAC comes back at 0.799, three hours after you were taken into custody.

/semiotix does not condone people drinking and driving//frankly, the more time I spend on Fark, the less I condone people driving, period.

Ha! You delay for an hour an your BAC isn't at .00 they'll interpret what your BAC WOULD HAVE BEEN at the time of arrest. Drinking anything and driving...and getting pulled over, is pretty much illegal all over this country.

pedobearapproved:Ha! You delay for an hour an your BAC isn't at .00 they'll interpret what your BAC WOULD HAVE BEEN at the time of arrest.

Oh, sure, you're arrested either way. But if you're the kind of person who's wealthy and powerful enough to risk the Breathalyzer Refusal Gambit, your $1,000-an-hour lawyer is going to massacre them at trial if the only physical evidence they have is a blood test showing you below the legal limit. The rest is just fussy details.

Like I said, this will not work for most of us. (Which is not a bad thing.)